That makes sense. Is it a "Life is what happens when you're making other plans" kind of thing? Life = Destiny; Other plans = Agenda?
Destiny might have more to do with his Subcalling then. The first Destiny might be visiting Library X, and researching a topic of interest to him: "Exploring Warfare and Violence from a Cross-Cultural Perspective : Introduction to the Special Issue," say (cribbing from the web, but this is exactly how he introduces himself when trying to impress), and the text might refer offhand to a prophecy. Later on he would discover that the prophecy refers to himself.
It occurs to me that the sum of money he spent (mentioned in his background) may have been invested in chartering a ship...
Your Destiny may very well interrupt your plans, and I've always thought that Calling and Subcalling could be played as something you don't want as easily as something you did. There's sort of a warrior trope along the lines of "I didn't want to be a killer", and that could as easily apply to an assassin. A warlock could be pressured into their pact, and sorcerers don't really choose to be sorcerers. A lot of other Callings can be chosen under pressure, even if they took long-term effort ("I wanted to study culinary arts, but dad was all like 'I'm a wizard, your granddad was a wizard, your great granddad was a wizard...' ").
He could certainly be the one who owns the ship if you want, since no one else was looking to. I might, for RP purposes, avoid saying you hired the other PCs, unless that's the route others are interested in.
I would imagine this character as having a "surround himself with talent" mentality. I could see him registering as a business, in his charter application, where each crewman has their role but decisions are made by majority vote. He might be able to copy from contracts he has seen in his reading, maybe using really dated language (chuckle!)...
I personally love using contracts in RPGs. I've even off and on attempted to create an 'Adjuration' school of magic based on contract law. I never finish it, since I keep restarting.
So long as the other players like the idea, I'd run with it.
Due to input from a couple of people, I've reworked the Omolo race. Note that this link is to a doc done in the traditional race format. I've updated the Feats doc to match, so the first link is really just to give you an overview of the Omolo.
There are native pixies and sprites. A lot of them live in the shadowy Gallows Glens to the south of where our story is set. I don't have a write-up for that, but there's some head-cannon.
I have some ideas about changing how the classes work, but I'm not looking to test that in this game, so we are using normal level progression with the modified milestone system that has already been described. You are right that people will level at different times, but I will try to make sure everyone has opportunities to level such that the group roughly stays at the same level as each other. The system as it stands rewards personal initiative though, and I do encourage that players try to move the plot towards their own goals. I avoid railroading whenever possible, so this will run in a semi-sand box kind of a way that I'll detail a little later.
In terms of languages will be using the standard languages, though I'm in favor of creating a whole new language set. This setting is an amalgamation of at least 14 writers over the years, and we don't always agree. We've yet to settle on the language issue.
Are only subclasses from the PHB allowed? One character concept I have fit best with a Kensei Monk.
With the awkward body feat, it read as allowing the possibility of playing a Tiny character, is that true?
Is character advancement similar to a typical campaign outside of how you advance in level?
Also on a separate note, is the Wealth Cleric supposed to get upper level spells (above 5th lvl)? All published subclasses generally do not give spells above 5th level (with a few exceptions).
I was originally thinking only the PHB and Q'rath Set options, but we did already have one submission for an artificer that I didn't veto, and I don't suppose there's really an issue with allowing subclasses outside the PHB.
It does allow playing a tiny character. What did you have in mind?
In terms of character advancement, did you mean the speed of advancement or something else?
I actually hadn't noticed that about the other Domains. I'll have to put some thought as to weather or not that's an issue.
Sounds Good!
Cool! One idea I had evolved into a Rouge (Arcane Trickster) Calling that was a pixie or sprite type of character. Not sure if that would work but I imagined they could've come through from another world/realm/ etc. or inhabited on of the fey/elven realms.
Was thinking more along the lines of after the modified character creation, would each character follow their class' feature progression as normal or would there be other changes to that as well? As for speed of advancement, depending on each character's agenda and destiny, it seems like characters would be leveling up a different speeds. If someone's agenda/ destiny has points that are completed slower than other characters, would they just fall behind (or vice-versa)? Or is the party generally leveling up around the same time?
Also are there any unique languages to Q'Rath?
Here's a rough outline for the character concept I decided to go with; ended up going ahead with a variation of one of the wilder options I had come up with. Let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions!
Ability Score Improvement: +1 Dex; +1 INT Awkward Body: Tiny creature size Diminutive: Can Hide behind creatures at least one size larger Nimble: Can move through the space of a creature at least one size larger than you Skilled: Animal Handling/ Arcana/ History Winged: 40ft Glide Speed; 50ft Fly Speed at Lvl 5
Description (Outline):
Tiny (barely over 1' tall), young (relatively speaking for a Pixie/ Sprite) with purple eyes and hair. Outfitted in Sprite/ Pixie sized weapons, armor and equipment
Notably non-magical
Born with an eternal sense of wanderlust and adventure; she secretly desires to travel the world and discover all that it has to offer while finding her people's stolen item(s) as well as other hidden relic(s) lost long ago
Joyful/ Bubbly, Impulsive, naïve and unpredictable
Likes to sit on the heads'/ shoulders' of "big" people she likes
Backstory (Outline):
Part of a small Sprite/ Pixie enclave in one of the major Elven/ Fey regions of Q'Rath
One day, the enclave was attacked and ancient relic(s)/ artifact(s) were stolen from them. It's noted afterwards that the one(s) who orchestrated the attack had a distinguishing mark/ symbol on them.
Theena, a "young" bright-eyed member of the enclave who was considered highly capable (Skilled feat) but still a lessor member of her people due to her lack of innate magical ability, runs off to try and find the lost items on her own.
Quickly getting lost, she eventually makes it to ___ (an appropriate large city in Q'Rath) where she's taken in by a small band of cat-burglars (most likely Mawn) where her skills and size make her invaluable to them. During this time she continues her search for her people's lost treasure(s) and the culprit(s) who stole it.
Eventually hearing a rumor about the person(s)/ lost item(s), she makes her way onto the airship towards __. (I imagined her joining the ship as a stowaway but joining in a more official manner works as well).
Agenda/ Destiny (Outline):
Agenda
Find/ follow clues on her people's stolen sacred treasure(s)
Succeed on making voyage (to a town/city relatively near where the campaign begins or somewhere the party/ campaign is already heading towards)
Enjoy the wonders of the world (changes with each location they visit)
Destiny
Find the lost relics of ___
Find and return the sacred item(s) of her people that was stolen
I would ask that the Destiny overlap a little less with the Agenda. Maybe there's something she's fated to do with a sacred relic?
Sure, I'm open to something like that. Maybe something along the lines of: "Cause and/or Avert disaster from the union of ancient relics/ artifacts long separated." Very WIP but perhaps she either begins collecting a series of relics or finds/ owns a tiny missing piece of something much greater at some point during her journey.
So, I've been following this for a few days now, and I haven't quite decided what kind of character I'd shoot for, but I'm kind of leaning towards a dragonborn ranger (not sure on Hunter or Beastmaster) who may have been affected by the Shadowfell in some way. I do have a few questions, though.
Are the new chromatic dragons affiliated with any elements/damage types?
Do you have more information on the Arau/Gnome-Spiders?
When you mention having Sky Vehicles as either a proficiency or a flaw, are you referring to the flaws that are grouped with personality traits, bonds, and ideals?
If there are a few portals in the Deadlands that lead to the Shadowfell, then would there still be other portals or means elsewhere that lead to the Shadowfell and/or back?
A few of the feats have mentioned things like "front arc" (i.e., in Tail Weapon). Is that related to a new mechanic? Should I worry about this at this point?
Just like the other chromatics, each dragon has personality associations. Let me know if you need that info for any given color.
This doc has more on the Gnome-Spiders. Arau is short for Araushawnee, btw. The the traits listed are listed in the old usual way for races, as opposed to the way we are doing race. Consider what's listed there as an example of a typical Arau.
Yes I mean lacking Sky Vehicles as a proficiency to be a flaw in the mechanical sense, since it will come up fairly often.
There can be other portals to the Shadowfel if that's needed for a PC's backstory.
As far as 'back arc', I'm not familiar with that, so I'm going to assume it wasn't one of the ones I wrote. I'll find out who did and see what was intended, then edit the wording for clarity.
Edit: Ok that got cleared up pretty quick. We edited the feat to remove the back arc term and bonus action, and replaced it with a reaction that lets you boost your AC.
After getting some feedback, I've reworked Chaszmyrians, and their associated feats. Like the Omolo and the Arau, the doc is describing the typical Chaszmyrian.
I personally love using contracts in RPGs. I've even off and on attempted to create an 'Adjuration' school of magic based on contract law. I never finish it, since I keep restarting.
So long as the other players like the idea, I'd run with it.
Re: "adjuration," I had to look at that three times before it sunk in, but then I guffawed. Then I thought, hmmmm...interesting.
Just like the other chromatics, each dragon has personality associations. Let me know if you need that info for any given color.
This doc has more on the Gnome-Spiders. Arau is short for Araushawnee, btw. The the traits listed are listed in the old usual way for races, as opposed to the way we are doing race. Consider what's listed there as an example of a typical Arau.
Yes I mean lacking Sky Vehicles as a proficiency to be a flaw in the mechanical sense, since it will come up fairly often.
There can be other portals to the Shadowfel if that's needed for a PC's backstory.
As far as 'back arc', I'm not familiar with that, so I'm going to assume it wasn't one of the ones I wrote. I'll find out who did and see what was intended, then edit the wording for clarity.
Edit: Ok that got cleared up pretty quick. We edited the feat to remove the back arc term and bonus action, and replaced it with a reaction that lets you boost your AC.
Thanks for the answers. After looking at Arau, I decided to go with that instead of Dragonborn for my character.
Question, actually: Was it intended that Web-Wielder wouldn’t automatically be included as one of Arau’s feats? That has me wondering if it might be a common thing for some Arau to not use or even have their own webbing. Also, since Web-Wielder includes the benefit of ignoring movement restrictions caused by nonmagical webbing, that also seems to imply to me that maybe some Arau aren’t even used to moving through/on webbing. Sorry if this is nitpicking, but I’d like to understand the Arau race a little better. Unless this is part of the idea of creating a customized race for a character.
This is a WIP, I’m going to try and get it finished today.
Name: HeikeZel
Concept: Arau Hunter combat medic, who…
Feats: Arau (includes Sunless Eyes, Spider-Climb, Awkward Body, and two other feats), Web-Wielder, Shadow Touched
I didn't make it automatic on the basis that some kinds of spider use webs and some don't. I was considering the idea of creating subraces, with some cultures being full of webbing and others using it barely if at all.
I'm guessing that was the write-up for the character prior to changing the race?
As I mentioned in the original post, I'm was looking to set the PC group today, but since it's helpful for a play test to have more players, I'm actually going to create two groups. Since we've got two groups, it will be two ships with essentially the same premise: Privateers operating over the Northern plains of Can Tinodeus, near the boarder of the Iron Empire.
Each 'chapter' will either be a (semi)random encounter, as the ship encounters something/someone, or a choice to be made by the crew as to which nearby location to go to. The players choose as a group what the goal is and how to go about it when it's a destination choice (raid, trade, etc). We'll assume each crew is newly assembled and no one knows anyone else unless players want to decide among themselves that their characters have a connection to anyone else. You don't have to run those connections by me if you don't want to.
Each ship will have their own forum thread, unless they meet, which we can make a third thread for.
The first ship will be crewed by whichever 5 PCs are ready to play first, with the character sheet, found here, filled out. If you 'miss the ship', you're on the second one. This isn't a good or bad thing in particular, though the encounters won't be identical. I'll figure out where each group starts out from by looking at character concepts and backstories.
I'm going to ask people to be fairly thorough with the character sheet, and that they use that sheet specifically, and keep it up to date. You'll note it's a spread sheet, and I typically create a 'DM's Screen' in the form of another spread sheet that reads data from yours. That lets me make a lot of decisions quicker and easier than opening each sheet or asking players and waiting for a reply.
Oh, we all got in? Cool! Then I'd like to ask what form of Resistant feat would a Ruxalfier likely have? Can I just choose any, or are there some they are known to have?
Thanks for having us in your playtest campaign! I'll need some direction on how you'd like some of the stats adjusted for playing a Tiny character. Also as you mentioned before that you didn't have a write-up for the area where Sprites/ Pixies typically inhabit, were there any ideas or details particular to your setting that I should know when finalizing the character
Could even turn this to a West Marches style eventually. Perhaps our skyships are a part of the same company, so we might meet up/trade members/etc? Or dueling rival skyships!
So by my reckoning, we have the following potential PCs:
Don't know how many of your characters are not proficient in flying vehicles, but... we should try to make sure that one group isn't all non-proficient.
I would imagine this character as having a "surround himself with talent" mentality. I could see him registering as a business, in his charter application, where each crewman has their role but decisions are made by majority vote. He might be able to copy from contracts he has seen in his reading, maybe using really dated language (chuckle!)...
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
I personally love using contracts in RPGs. I've even off and on attempted to create an 'Adjuration' school of magic based on contract law. I never finish it, since I keep restarting.
So long as the other players like the idea, I'd run with it.
Due to input from a couple of people, I've reworked the Omolo race. Note that this link is to a doc done in the traditional race format. I've updated the Feats doc to match, so the first link is really just to give you an overview of the Omolo.
There are native pixies and sprites. A lot of them live in the shadowy Gallows Glens to the south of where our story is set. I don't have a write-up for that, but there's some head-cannon.
I have some ideas about changing how the classes work, but I'm not looking to test that in this game, so we are using normal level progression with the modified milestone system that has already been described. You are right that people will level at different times, but I will try to make sure everyone has opportunities to level such that the group roughly stays at the same level as each other. The system as it stands rewards personal initiative though, and I do encourage that players try to move the plot towards their own goals. I avoid railroading whenever possible, so this will run in a semi-sand box kind of a way that I'll detail a little later.
In terms of languages will be using the standard languages, though I'm in favor of creating a whole new language set. This setting is an amalgamation of at least 14 writers over the years, and we don't always agree. We've yet to settle on the language issue.
Here's a rough outline for the character concept I decided to go with; ended up going ahead with a variation of one of the wilder options I had come up with. Let me know your thoughts or if you have any questions!
Name: Theena Arveene
Race: Pixie/ Sprite
Calling: Rouge
Subcalling: Scout
Backgrounds: Far-Traveler/ Criminal
Abilities:
STR: 8
DEX: 15 (+1)
CON: 12
INT: 13 (+1)
WIS: 10
CHA: 14
Feats:
Ability Score Improvement: +1 Dex; +1 INT
Awkward Body: Tiny creature size
Diminutive: Can Hide behind creatures at least one size larger
Nimble: Can move through the space of a creature at least one size larger than you
Skilled: Animal Handling/ Arcana/ History
Winged: 40ft Glide Speed; 50ft Fly Speed at Lvl 5
Description (Outline):
Backstory (Outline):
Agenda/ Destiny (Outline):
Agenda
Destiny
Zoldier’s Curse of the Crimson Throne: DM/ Redii || Zoldier's Strange Aeon's: DM
I would ask that the Destiny overlap a little less with the Agenda. Maybe there's something she's fated to do with a sacred relic?
Sure, I'm open to something like that. Maybe something along the lines of: "Cause and/or Avert disaster from the union of ancient relics/ artifacts long separated." Very WIP but perhaps she either begins collecting a series of relics or finds/ owns a tiny missing piece of something much greater at some point during her journey.
Zoldier’s Curse of the Crimson Throne: DM/ Redii || Zoldier's Strange Aeon's: DM
So, I've been following this for a few days now, and I haven't quite decided what kind of character I'd shoot for, but I'm kind of leaning towards a dragonborn ranger (not sure on Hunter or Beastmaster) who may have been affected by the Shadowfell in some way. I do have a few questions, though.
Are the new chromatic dragons affiliated with any elements/damage types?
Do you have more information on the Arau/Gnome-Spiders?
When you mention having Sky Vehicles as either a proficiency or a flaw, are you referring to the flaws that are grouped with personality traits, bonds, and ideals?
If there are a few portals in the Deadlands that lead to the Shadowfell, then would there still be other portals or means elsewhere that lead to the Shadowfell and/or back?
A few of the feats have mentioned things like "front arc" (i.e., in Tail Weapon). Is that related to a new mechanic? Should I worry about this at this point?
For the dragons:
Dragon
Type
Breath Weapon
Cyan
Psychic
5ft.x30ft. line (Dex. save)
Indigo
Fire
5ft.x30ft. line (Dex. save)
Ocher
Necrotic
15ft. cone (Con. save)
Pink
Acid
15ft. cone (Int. save)
Violet
Radiant
15ft. cone (Dex. save)
Just like the other chromatics, each dragon has personality associations. Let me know if you need that info for any given color.
This doc has more on the Gnome-Spiders. Arau is short for Araushawnee, btw. The the traits listed are listed in the old usual way for races, as opposed to the way we are doing race. Consider what's listed there as an example of a typical Arau.
Yes I mean lacking Sky Vehicles as a proficiency to be a flaw in the mechanical sense, since it will come up fairly often.
There can be other portals to the Shadowfel if that's needed for a PC's backstory.
As far as 'back arc', I'm not familiar with that, so I'm going to assume it wasn't one of the ones I wrote. I'll find out who did and see what was intended, then edit the wording for clarity.
Edit: Ok that got cleared up pretty quick. We edited the feat to remove the back arc term and bonus action, and replaced it with a reaction that lets you boost your AC.
After getting some feedback, I've reworked Chaszmyrians, and their associated feats. Like the Omolo and the Arau, the doc is describing the typical Chaszmyrian.
Re: "adjuration," I had to look at that three times before it sunk in, but then I guffawed. Then I thought, hmmmm...interesting.
I grabbed an image from the web and edited it. Does this look like a Mawn of Q'rath Set, raised by a human family? https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qB04Q_Jkvw022bkmB2Enh5kn8k2wFraN/view?usp=sharing
DM for Candlekeep Mysteries // Dev Hornd in Curious Critters // Eclipse Faraway in Gallows Dancer
Yeah, that works for a Mawn.
Thanks for the answers. After looking at Arau, I decided to go with that instead of Dragonborn for my character.
Question, actually: Was it intended that Web-Wielder wouldn’t automatically be included as one of Arau’s feats? That has me wondering if it might be a common thing for some Arau to not use or even have their own webbing. Also, since Web-Wielder includes the benefit of ignoring movement restrictions caused by nonmagical webbing, that also seems to imply to me that maybe some Arau aren’t even used to moving through/on webbing. Sorry if this is nitpicking, but I’d like to understand the Arau race a little better. Unless this is part of the idea of creating a customized race for a character.
This is a WIP, I’m going to try and get it finished today.
Name: HeikeZel
Concept: Arau Hunter combat medic, who…
Feats: Arau (includes Sunless Eyes, Spider-Climb, Awkward Body, and two other feats), Web-Wielder, Shadow Touched
Calling/Subcalling: Ranger/Hunter
Backgrounds: Outlander & Hermit
Backstory:
Agenda & Destiny:
I didn't make it automatic on the basis that some kinds of spider use webs and some don't. I was considering the idea of creating subraces, with some cultures being full of webbing and others using it barely if at all.
I'm guessing that was the write-up for the character prior to changing the race?
As I mentioned in the original post, I'm was looking to set the PC group today, but since it's helpful for a play test to have more players, I'm actually going to create two groups. Since we've got two groups, it will be two ships with essentially the same premise: Privateers operating over the Northern plains of Can Tinodeus, near the boarder of the Iron Empire.
Each 'chapter' will either be a (semi)random encounter, as the ship encounters something/someone, or a choice to be made by the crew as to which nearby location to go to. The players choose as a group what the goal is and how to go about it when it's a destination choice (raid, trade, etc). We'll assume each crew is newly assembled and no one knows anyone else unless players want to decide among themselves that their characters have a connection to anyone else. You don't have to run those connections by me if you don't want to.
Each ship will have their own forum thread, unless they meet, which we can make a third thread for.
The first ship will be crewed by whichever 5 PCs are ready to play first, with the character sheet, found here, filled out. If you 'miss the ship', you're on the second one. This isn't a good or bad thing in particular, though the encounters won't be identical. I'll figure out where each group starts out from by looking at character concepts and backstories.
I'm going to ask people to be fairly thorough with the character sheet, and that they use that sheet specifically, and keep it up to date. You'll note it's a spread sheet, and I typically create a 'DM's Screen' in the form of another spread sheet that reads data from yours. That lets me make a lot of decisions quicker and easier than opening each sheet or asking players and waiting for a reply.
These are a few other things that may end up in the book we're doing. Purely for those who might find them interesting.
The Loss of The El-Karg
Illusion
Race and Morality in Fantasy Settings
Oh, we all got in? Cool! Then I'd like to ask what form of Resistant feat would a Ruxalfier likely have? Can I just choose any, or are there some they are known to have?
Thanks for having us in your playtest campaign! I'll need some direction on how you'd like some of the stats adjusted for playing a Tiny character. Also as you mentioned before that you didn't have a write-up for the area where Sprites/ Pixies typically inhabit, were there any ideas or details particular to your setting that I should know when finalizing the character
Zoldier’s Curse of the Crimson Throne: DM/ Redii || Zoldier's Strange Aeon's: DM
Could even turn this to a West Marches style eventually. Perhaps our skyships are a part of the same company, so we might meet up/trade members/etc? Or dueling rival skyships!
So by my reckoning, we have the following potential PCs:
Don't know how many of your characters are not proficient in flying vehicles, but... we should try to make sure that one group isn't all non-proficient.
Aldrik Reinholdt in Dragon Heist
Daventry in The Candlekeep Mysteries, and her bag
Bazlachi would not be proficient with Flying Vehicles.This is likely his first time serving on one since returning.